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Saturday, January 31, 2015

John 13:31-3531When Judas was gone, Jesus said, "Now the Human One has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify the Human One in himself and will glorify him immediately. 33Little children, I'm with you for a little while longer. You will look for me--but, just as I told the Jewish leaders, I also tell you now--'Where I'm going, you can't come.' 34"I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. 35This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other."

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to God

Philippians 2:1-131Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, 2complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. 3Don't do anything for selfish purposes but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. 4Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others. 5Adopt the attitude that was in Christ Jesus:

6Though he was in the form of God, he did not consider being equal with God something to exploit. 7But he emptied himself by taking the form of a slave and by becoming like human beings. When he found himself in the form of a human, 8he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9Therefore, God highly honored him and gave him a name above all names, 10so that at the name of Jesus everyone in heaven, on earth, and under the earth might bow 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12Therefore, my loved ones, just as you always obey me, not just when I am present but now even more while I am away, carry out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes.

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to God.Both: The Church does not always speak with one voice.

Joseph: There’s a measure of the absurd in what we’re doing.

James: We have been tasked by GAP to use a passage and give a sermon on “Unity.”

Joseph: We’ve been partnered together because of how much we are alike

James: We’re both young pastors (in Presbyterian terms that means we’re under 50).

Joseph: But James and I are by no means interchangeable.

James: For example…

Joseph: I grew up in the 90’s,

James: Child of 80’s.

Joseph: East Coast,

James: West Coast

Joseph: Southern

James: Northwest,

Joseph: Bow ties are cool.

James: thinks it’s hilarious that he likes bow ties, Joseph and I are not unified, and the items we are voting on in Presbytery today highlight how un-unified we are as a denomination….”

Joseph: We are voting on some tough things later today. We each have come to this meeting with our own biases. I have every confidence that those biases are drawn first and foremost from a place of faith, rooted in scripture, and abounding in love of God and neighbor.

James: None of us are here to ruin the church. We are not, however, of one mind with regard to what God’s will looks like.

Joseph: We are here to discern God’s will for our Presbytery. We are not unbiased, we all have a specific mind of what it means to build up the Body of Christ.

James: Today’s passage, particularly verses 3 and 4 remind us just how hard it is for us to actually be humble in our motives. In the NIV the verses read: “3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

“In humility value others above yourselves…” For us to really be united we need humility. We need to choose our sisters and brothers in Christ before ourselves. Eugene Peterson in the Message puts it like this- “Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.” AND “Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”

Joseph: The easiest way to get to unity would be to foster some sort of spiritual copy and paste. Wouldn't it be great if everybody thought and acted just like me? Then we could all be correct together! If we want unity, then everyone can just change to be exactly like me!

Doing things the easy way, where everyone else changes, is an exercise in selfishness. Choosing humility enacts our much more difficult calling to love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. We struggle to “[not] do anything for selfish purposes but with humility think of others as better than yourselves.”

By we, I mean me.

James: Me too! Choosing humility… easier said than done right? My guess is a lot of people came to today’s Presbytery meeting a lot like me. In some of the controversial areas we are voting on later today (like Marriage), we may not be sure how the vote will go. But we are fairly convinced that during the discussion at least one person will be right most of the time. ourselves….

Joseph: My guess is that very few of us are willing to have our minds changed as we discuss those controversial issues. It’s rare to come in with one bias and to leave with another.

James: But how many of us are coming to this meeting ready to vote against our own conscience, because we feel led by God to put the interests of others… unity first? How many of us have even had a conversation with God about that as a possibility?

Joseph: Verses 3 and 4 challenge us. "Don't do anything for selfish purposes but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others." Ultimately, the problem is that we are too selfish to accomplish unity by ourselves.

James: All it takes is looking at verses 5-11 to see how far Paul is challenging us to go in terms in humility. Jesus… JESUS… is the example Paul is calling us to follow. Jesus who was in heaven, glorified with God and the Spirit… choosing to empty himself to come to our mess of a world. And then choosing to allow himself to die by cross… understood at the time to be the absolute most degrading, demeaning, terrible way to die… and Jesus does it all for others… for you and me. He goes from the ABSOLUTE highest place you can imagine- to the ABSOLUTE lowest one for us. That’s the kind of humility we are called to have.

And I don’t know about you. But when I use that mirror (Christ) to examine my own motives on just about anything, I have to admit that I come up severely lacking. Even when I am at my best- I am not sure that my motives are completely pure.

Joseph: We’ve got to use Christ as a mirror to examine our own our motives, even when we know we’ll come up short. God’s love and Christ’s saving actions on our behalf are the foundation of Christian Identity. We Presbyterians have long affirmed that we are not our own, that we belong to God. But sometimes we forget who we are, and act out of our selfish nature. We lose sight of the Christ-centered purpose Paul lifts up for us, and fall victim to our own impure motives. Then we try and justify ourselves, and the mental gymnastics begin. We selfishly look for the right reason for having done the wrong thing.

When I was in Seminary, I recall looking around at my fellow students and judging them: “Really? You think God called you to ministry?” I told myself that I was focused on the health of the Church, that we as a denomination need strong leaders and preachers to reclaim our identity as the Body of Christ. “Really? you think God called you to ministry?”

One day, as I sat in judgement over my fellow seminarians, a thought occurred to me as through the Holy Spirit had whispered it in my ear. “You know that some of them would say the same thing about you right?” I had set myself up as judge over what a true call to ministry looked like, and told myself I had the best interests of the Church at heart. But my selfish nature had taken my right reasons and accomplished a wrong deed with them. Selfishness can be finding the right reason for doing the wrong thing.

James: But that is not all- selfishness can also be doing the right thing for wrong reason.

Doing the right thing for the wrong reason… for myself this can be best described as those moments when I look at the choice I’m making and notice all the conjunctions… the “ands” that are a part of the decision….

Yes I want to come alongside and comfort my friend who’s grieving in this restaurant with me. I feel bad for them and help them AND look at how other people in this restaurant are looking at us AND I’m sure my friend is embarrassed she is making a scene AND isn’t this an inappropriate place for this…

Joseph: Someone asks me for cash. Of course I want to help them out, that’s the proper Christian response. AND I also have other things to do, AND I’m getting kind of a weird feeling from them.

James: So It’s time for me to visit some of my congregation members. It will be great to see how they are doing and help them feel cared and loved AND it’s been a while since I’ve done this AND I don’t want anyone to critique me AND wouldn’t it be great if the congregation REALLY noticed how much time I put into caring for them AND

Joseph: Pastor’s and church members alike, we’re all a mess. We do the right thing for the wrong reasons, we find righteous reasons for doing the wrong thing. We forget our Christian identity as servants of God and instead try and puff ourselves up, choosing arrogance over humility because we’ve forgotten who we are, and whose we are.

James: It seems we need to face facts. Humility and therefore unity are unachievable goals for us as humans. That’s what makes verse 13 SO INCREDIBLE…. SUCH GOOD NEWS!! “God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes.” We can’t do humility and unity alone. But we are reminded that God is at work in us anyway. That God desires to give us the willingness, and energy, and ability to work outside our selfish nature.

Joseph: Our nature, depraved, sinful, and selfish, is repurposed into our Christian identity only through the intervention of the LORD. "God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes." God's claim on our identity leads us right back to the beginning of the passage. God's presence and work in us and through us turn "ifs" into assurances. "Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ," and there is,

James: ”any comfort in love," and there is

Joseph: ”any sharing in the Spirit," and there is,

James:”any sympathy," and there is.

Joseph:Our selfish nature does not rule our Christian Identity, God does. God has already taken care of our redemption, so we don't need to hold on to selfishness. God is already holding on to us. All of us, even the ones who disagree with us when the church does not speak with one voice.

James: The unity, described in verses 1 and 2 are NOT humanly possible. It only happens if and when we allow God in… to mold us in a way completely contrary to our sinful/selfish nature. And if you are like me, we need to allow God into our hearts to do this work over and over and over and over and over again.

Joseph: Allowing God into our hearts over and over again does doesn't solve all our problems. Unity based on our Christian identity always leads to the cross, because it doesn't make sense in a world so shaped by selfishness. But it's not our problems or division that define us: God's love defines us. Unity through humility and Christian identity doesn't erase all our problems, it's a living testimony that even though we go to the cross, we go there because we are united by Christ's love for us, and our love for one another.

James: If we're not letting God help us to choose humility and unity, it's just lip-service. Our "Love one another" becomes just a farce.

Joseph: So let's come together to "carry out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling." We know that we do not save ourselves through selfishness, we are saved by God's mighty hand. Let's act like we believe it, and carry that truth out into the world, knowing that God's salvation is stronger than our fear, stronger than our trembling, stronger than our selfishness, stronger than our disunity. Let's claim our Christian identity and show the world that even if we are going to the cross, we are going there united in Christ. "God is the one who enables [us] both to want and to actually live out his good purposes.”

James: Our Identity is centered around Christ, who ”humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Our unity is grounded in what God has done for us. When we fall victim to the disunity of our selfish nature, we are not being who God has created us to be, who God has called us to become.

8Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah9Those of low estate are but a breath, those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.10Put no confidence in extortion, and set no vain hope on robbery; if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

11Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God,12And steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord. For you repay to all according to their work.

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to God

Mark 1:14-2014Now after John was arrested, jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

16As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea - for they were fishermen. 17And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to GodI’ve heard this passage, and the corresponding texts in the other gospels, preached a number of times. Each time the focus has been on the calling of the disciples. Either they had enough faith to drop what they were doing, and we should be like them, or that there must have been something special about our God to just make them abandon their obligations to join this man Jesus on his journey. We’re even left with a somewhat comical image of Zebedee looking around for his sons after they’ve seemingly disappeared. But the focus for me is on verses fourteen and fifteen, which set the pattern for the rest of Mark’s gospel.

Mark’s gospel is filled with “immediately,” and everything happens quickly after the preceding event. Mark only has time for the most important stuff, and chooses to start with this man John, who is out baptizing, using the same words as our call to worship this morning: “Prepare the way for the Lord;” And here we are, with ten verses in between, and this seemingly central character we’ve been introduced to has been arrested.

There’s no fanfare here, no story about how Herod had him arrested so he could later be executed, no account of why, he just disappears. Because this isn’t the Good News of John the Baptist, it’s the good news of Jesus Christ. John is not the story, he prophesied about the story that was coming. And Jesus is in Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.

The Common English Bible, which is currently my favorite translation, has three exclamation points in verse 15 of our Mark passage. It reads “Now is the time! Here come’s God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!” These words are not just a call to action, they’re not something to sleepily read in a morning devotion, Haven’t you heard? Jesus is on the move!

We live in a world where our churches are in decline, and some are even dying. But we also live in a world that is waiting to hear God’s voice. In everything we do, if we are not acting out God’s voice, we’re just performing a party trick. Our accomplishments may impress us, and it is indeed easy to put our trust in visible touchable things. But the psalmist tells us that they’re just empty air. For God alone is our rock and our salvation, and we shall not be shaken. Like the old hymn says, You can have the whole world, just give me Jesus. You can keep your securities, your mutual funds, your fishing nets that I’ll just have to end up mending, all I want is a God who is my refuge, a God who is worth waiting for. Just give me Jesus. The psalmist says “Those of low estate are but a breath, those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.” Our world has so little that we can really know. But I know Jesus is the truth, and Jesus is on the move.

We’re in a world that sometimes is spinning out of control and other times is mired in a mess that we can’t break ourselves out of. But the thing we can hang all of our faith on is God, who is our rock, our salvation, our fortress. In a world that we don’t understand, Just give me Jesus, because I know that God is a refuge for us, but it’s not a refuge where we can just sit around, waiting to be picked up by our heavenly mother to take us home. All that time spent waiting, and we know it’s worth for, and now the time is fulfilled, Because Jesus is on the move.

Jesus is moving from the wilderness to Promised Land, crossing the river Jordan into Galilee, and then Jesus will move to Jerusalem, the seat of the promised land. But the promised land is a shadow of the promise that is embodied by God-With-Us. The time is fulfilled in Jesus, the Christ, the source of all our hope. And Jesus is on the move.

He’s moving in new church developments, and in century old churches bringing new life into communities that all reason says we should just abandon. He’s moving in our communities, bringing us together over a meal, or helping us to clean fallen limbs out of our yard after a storm. He’s moving through peacemakers and warriors, even though they do not understand one another, Jesus is moving in both of them, acting in love so that neither peace nor war will need to be made. Jesus is moving through a world that is waiting for the time when it will be redeemed from it’s fallen state. Jesus is on the move, proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.” It’s not some far off dream, it’s not a day to await, it’s already here, happening all around us. So come, Jesus says, “Follow me.” Leave behind what you know, what you have resigned yourself to, because I’m on the move, and even though you have no idea what it will look like, in following me you will be transformed. You can stay stagnant, but Jesus is on the move.

My first year in Seminary, I was met outside the chapel door by a Korean artist and worship leader. Right before we entered he addressed all of us who would be worshipping that day saying that we were required to participate in worship, and that none of us would be permitted to spectate. For me, it was a wake-up call. How many times had I attended worship and merely watched Jesus move past me. You have the option to stay stagnant and spectating, but Jesus is on the move.

So here we are, the church, in the world but not of the world. We are the body of Christ, we are the face and hands and feet of Jesus. And we have long thought that we could expect our church to grow without really working at it. We could just wait for the time when our pews would be filled like they once were, when we couldn’t get that new building fast enough. When we would prepare ourselves to be disciples with pulpit lectures and passed plates. Then when the day of the Lord came we would be swept up like the faithful church mice we were.

Our task was to prepare the way of the Lord, and to make his paths straight. John’s message is one of preparation. But it’s too late to prepare, because the one for whom we were preparing has arrived. The Time is fulfilled because Jesus is on the scene, and Jesus is on the move. With Jesus on the move, we cannot expect to keep up just by being passive. The time is fulfilled, Jesus is on the move, and wants us to go with him.

We are the body of Christ, and we are part of a movement. We are not individuals taking a stand, we are not waiting for the Day of the Lord foretold by the prophets. At least I hope not. Because this is not the good news of John the Baptist, it’s the Good News of Jesus Christ. Because if the church is just waiting for the world to change, it’s going to pass us by. The Psalmist speaks to this, “For God alone my soul waits in silence.” We’re not supposed to wait for the world to accommodate us, we’re supposed to wait for God. With Jesus on the scene proclaiming that the kingdom is at hand, we no longer have to wait for God. John pointed to what was coming, but now The time is fulfilled. God-with-us is on the move.

Columbia Seminary has a January term where one takes a single course and does nothing but that for the month of January. So the professor’s have to pack a semester’s worth of information into about three weeks. In the middle of the three year program, students are required to take a class where they explore an alternative context. Some folks travel to Easter Europe to experience Orthodox Christianity, others explore the way Christianity has grown and changed on the Caribbean Islands. The course I took was Transformational Church and Urban Ministry in Atlanta. Growing up out in the country in Burke County, urban ministry was a totally different world for me. Over the three weeks of that class, we looked at various different models for what a church can look like and still be a church. Because the world is changing around us and traditional models don’t speak to everyone.

One church met in a storefront and had a coffee shop built in, had a professional jazz band and didn’t do any congregation singing. They had a community garden out back, and their nursery was almost always empty because the children wanted to be in the main worship space.

Another church was renting an auditorium from a local elementary school, kept everything they used in worship in boxes to be unpacked before every worship service, and then moved it all back out at the end of the day. They broadcast each of their three worship services live over the internet, and had a surprisingly large group of members who lived in Romania. Their Associate Pastor for Online Ministry handled most of the technical stuff, and also keep the conversation going long after worship ended.

Another church met in an old church building, which they shared with a couple of other worshipping communities. The old church had died out, but left its building in trust so that other communities would have access to a traditional sanctuary, even if they could only afford to rent the site one day a week. The three newer congregations that used the building split the rent between one another, and each used it at a different time on Sunday, and used it as a base of operations for mission and outreach on a different day during the week.

In studying the various contemporary church models, I have come to the conclusion that there is only one “right way” to do church: and that is as faithfully as possible. Whatever model we use now and in the future, so long as we act in faith, our offering is pleasing to God. We can’t stand still just because we’re afraid of what might happen, as Nicholas Wolterstorff wrote in his book Lament for a Son, “Faith is a footbridge that you don’t know will hold you up over the chasm until you’re forced to walk out onto it.” But we have to walk out over the chasm, because that’s where Jesus is, and Jesus is on the move. So we must step out of our fishing boats and follow wherever our God calls us, because power and steadfast love belong to our Lord. Even when it is scary, and it will be. But when we step onto that bridge of faith, we are one step closer to a God who is too loving and powerful to just stand still, but is always active in our lives, even when we aren’t active ourselves.

Jesus is on the move, and the gospel message isn’t passive, it’s an urgent message to the people of God that we are no longer enslaved to sin and death. We have been purchased by God, and although on our own we are only a breath, God says we are valuable enough that God moves through us even in our brokenness, for no other reason than God loves us. I’m not sure what it will look like to fish for people, but I want to be on the move with the God who loves us all that much.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Before We Know It from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.1 Samuel 3:1-10 (307)Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli, The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

2At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4Then the LORD called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” 5and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6The LORD called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. 9therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to God

John 1:43-51 (112)43The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is an Israelite in whom there is not deceit!” 48Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

50Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened up and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to God.“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.”

The most famous sermon in American history didn’t start out as a sermon, it started as a speech at a political rally. It began as a refusal to return to normalcy, a demand that normalcy change to a more righteous, and equal form. The speech looks to the promises of the past, lives in the reality of the present, and reaches towards the hope for the future.

Toward the end of the speech, someone from the crowd, a gospel singer named Mahalia Jackson, called out to the man on the podium and reminded him that he was not just a political speechwriter, but a preacher blessed with a prophetic voice.

“And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.”

Mahalia speaks: “Tell them about the dream Martin.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. forsakes his notes, and lets the dream speak for itself. The dream stands up and carries a nation forward because the people who heard about the dream dared to try and make it a reality.

“Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’” We share a vision of a far-off hope, made near through Christ. Before we know it, we will see greater things than these.

Dr. King’s dream is still out there, parts of it have been realized, but we’re not all the way there yet. Racism and White Privilege still have a choke hold over many parts of our culture. All people are diminished while those injustices stand.

But we know that it will not stand forever. We share a vision of a far-off hope, made near through Christ. Before we know it, we will see greater things than these. We live in a World come of age, ready to take the step of putting Christ at the center of our life together, a world where suffering is replaced by redemption. Where despair is redeemed to amazement.

We share a vision of a far-off hope that even though the church’s walls may be crumbling, the foundation is strong, and God is rebuilding her so that she will glorify him and enjoy him forever.

We share a vision that even though the word of the LORD is rare in these days, and visions are not widespread, that our dim vision will be made light, because the lamp of God has not yet gone out in this world.

But it seems so far off. Our vision, like Eli’s, has grown dim. We struggle to see the promise of God through the fog of an anxious culture. We struggle to see the work God is already doing among us through the smoky haze of violence, burning around the world and chasing us back to our living rooms on the evening news. We struggle to remember the hope God has given us through the gloom of soul-emptying despair that threatens to take us.

But the hope we have is more than nebulous, more than wispy, more than misty. The gloom will not take us, the violence will not consume us, the fog will not overwhelm us. We share a vision of a far-off hope, made near through Christ. Before we know it, we will see greater things than these.

The hope that seems so far-off is brought near through Christ.

Two thousand years after the pivotal moment of human history, it’s obvious to us that Jesus is so much more than just a man from Nazareth. Those who lived and walked alongside the incarnate Word did not have have the advantage of our perspective."Jesus has presented no proclamation about the reign of God that could excite the imagination of Philip or anyone else. Philip has no evident reason to find Jesus to be remarkable.” Yet Philip does find himself amazed at the person who invites him to join the Gospel that is already written, but is still being spelled out.

“He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.” He sees something in this man called Jesus of Nazareth that compels him to do more than just follow, he has to find his friend Nathanael bring him along. Before he even known this man, he has to share, and he makes powerful claims about who this Jesus is.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Jesus is a truly human man from Nazareth, on his way to Galilee. Philip is just a human from Bethsaida. If John’s Gospel goes out of its way to reveal these origins, it’s no wonder that Nathanael jumps to conclusions based on the neighborhood Jesus grew up in. “[John] presents most of Jesus's contemporaries as making he same mistake as did Nathanael in appraising Jesus and his message. They assumed that Jesus's origins could explain who he was.” But we know from the beginning of John’s Gospel that although Jesus’s human origins may begin in Nazareth, Christ’s origins as the Word of God go all the way back to the beginning.

Jesus Christ, the man from Nazareth who is also the Word made Flesh, brings us close to God, and brings the kingdom of God near to the people of God. "[Jesus is] the means by which human beings can have an authentic encounter with the divine.” The vision of far off hope, about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, is shown in the person and work of Christ Jesus.

We share a vision of a far-off hope, made near through Christ. Before we know it, we will see greater things than these.

Nathanael’s honest question about Jesus’s humble origins show that God does not require us to be great in order to work through us. God works in our lives before we can respond in faith. God called Samuel even before he knew the LORD, Jesus was creating in the world even before the world knew him. Philip saw that the law and the prophet’s pointed to Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.

Jesus reveals that he knew Nathanael even before Philip found him. “When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, ‘Here is an Israelite in whom there is not deceit!’ Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’” Perhaps a minor miracle, knowing someone’s heart before meeting them in person, not a big thing compared to raising the dead.

Nathanael responds to being known with praise, “Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’” "The overwhelming shock is that this person whose earthly origins can be identified, this Jesus, elicits a response appropriate to God.” Nathanael gives a testimony about the nature of this son of Joseph from Nazareth, he speaks of the far-off hope knowing that he’s standing right in front of him.

We share a vision of a far-off hope, made near through Christ. Before we know it, we will see greater things than these.

Jesus turns towards this response in faith, and promises that even greater things are coming.

“Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened up and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’”

In that second part, from “Very truly” on, Jesus is talking to all of his followers, even us reading it today. A more southern translation might say, “Very truly, I tell y’all, y’all will see heaven opened up and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’” Or even more colloquially, “Really, y’all, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

I wonder how we will respond to that promise of hope? I wonder how we will answer God’s call to follow him, how we will extend the invitation to “Come and See.” I know that God works in our lives before we can respond in faith. I know we will answer God’s voice, calling in the night. I know that Christ has brought us close to God, and brought our hope close to us.

We share a vision of a far-off hope, made near through Christ. Before we know it, we will see greater things than these.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Fringe Benefits from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.Acts 19:1-7 (169)1While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied “New we have not even heard there is a Holy Spirit.” 3Then he said, “Into what were you baptized?” They answered, “Into John’s Baptism.” 4Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied - 7altogether there were about twelve of them.

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to God

Mark 1:4-11 (42)John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5And people from the whole Judean countryside were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around is waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop to untie his sandals. 8I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

9In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 11And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to God.

A crowd begins to gather at the edge of town. You can hear the commotion long before you can see what's going on. Drawn out by the spectacle, you try and see what has started to happen, maybe it's the beginnings of a fight, maybe an especially talented street performer.

Instead, you're confronted by a voice crying out in the wilderness, declaring in the language of scripture that the day of The Lord is coming. This roaring prophet sounds the part, his voice carries over the whispers and murmurs of the assembled throng, firm and powerful with conviction, yet it also has a burned-out tone to it, a crunchy edge to his words brought on by too much shouting. It's a wild man from the wilderness, dressed in Camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, the way the great prophet Elijah is said to have dressed. This must be John the baptizer.

Rumor has it that he is spends so much time in the wilderness that he doesn't even have room in his diet for the many kinds of food available in the city. He has traded the comfort of civilized life, with the fruits and meats from all across the region, for insects and whatever wild honey he can find. John the baptizer lives by an unrelenting trust in what God gives him. You push through the edges of the crowd, finding room a few rows back from the prophet, surrounded by the excitement of a crowd that wants to hear God's word spoken anew.

At the town limits, on the banks of the Jordan river, at the edge of the wilderness, John tells the story of something amazing about to happen, the world is on the fringe of renewal, The Lord is coming. God is not stuck in the middle of a temple, or even bound by a particular community. God is free to come even to the fringes of the culture. ”He proclaimed, 'The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop to untie his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.'" God is free to share the benefits of grace with the poor and oppressed instead of the wealthy and powerful. God is free to change the world, starting at the Jordan river. It’s wild. It's weird. It's...strangely compelling...

So many of the folks in the center square were turned inward, only looking at what they could grab and hold for themselves: power, wealth, comfort, security. The folks in the center are too afraid to move because they might lose something, and they have so very much to lose. Every step comes with the question, "what will it cost?"

But here on the fringes with John the baptizer, we can see the benefits of a world made new, like the sunrise over the wilderness as it reflects off the water of the river Jordan, dancing over the ripples every time someone new is baptized. From the fringes, we can see the freedom of God, dismantling the status quo and continually creating and recreating in the world. ”Into the wilderness of our own broken lives and our own bleeding world erupts the promise of a baptism of new life.” John brings a promise that God is coming, that our sins can be cleansed, that we can turn away from self-centeredness and toward the fringes where we have the benefit of seeing what God is freely doing in the world.

But the one who is coming after John brings an even more promising future. “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan” The freedom of God is such that even absurd things, like joining sinners in baptism, is possible. The freedom of God is such that a promised future can be expanded, grace can be abundant, and the world can change.

John's Baptism is cleansing, but like everything else he does, Jesus's involvement adds to human experience by his participation. Baptism maintains its cleansing, but also becomes a claiming and a commissioning. John is the herald, Jesus is the Lord. Jesus’s baptism is not one of turning away from sin, but of turning toward his identity as the Son of God. "The cross reveals that the sonship declared at Jesus's baptism involves obedient suffering. This is evident in the baptism scene itself, for Jesus voluntarily joins the ranks of penitent sinners.”

The more promising future is ready to emerge, the kingdom of God is at hand! At the town limits, on the banks of the Jordan river, at the edge of the wilderness, something amazing happens. Jesus steps forward and is baptized, and the fringe of renewal expands, and takes us further out into the wilderness where we will meet God.

Yet Jesus, even before he takes a deep, dripping breath, on the fringe between the river and the ground, on the fringe between Jerusalem and the wilderness, finds that he has intersected another fringe. “Just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” God rends sky in Jesus’s view so that God can share this moment, this space, this affirmation, with Jesus. “and a voice came from heaven, “you are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” A private moment of revelation, a private joy within the Triune God, a powerful intersection at the fringes between heaven and earth, earth and water, civilization and wilderness.

From the shore, all we can see is another one of John’s baptisms. We don’t know, living in Mark’s narrative of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that the central event of human history is about to unfold. ”Jesus knows who he is by means of an experience that is not accessible to objective public verification. Others must discover this truth by listening to what Jesus says and by watching what he does.” God is also free to wait for human discernment, not every divine intervention is accompanied by angelic armies or thousands of conversion. God is free to act apart from humanity, sharing a moment with Jesus as the ongoing story moves towards a cruciform climax.

And yet God’s freedom also means inviting us to participate in building the kingdom, inviting us to be uncomfortable with a fallen world and to show that a redeemed life can impact that world, but we can’t participate in what God is doing on the fringes if we stay stuck in the safety of self-centeredness. God is free to move beyond our comfort zones, and the challenge of Christian discipleship is to follow, whether that leads us to the outskirts of town, or the river Jordan, or even into the wilderness of we-know-not-what.

John comes from the wilderness to offer Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus, immediately following his baptism, is driven out into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps we are too eager to stay in the embrace of these walls and pews. Maybe we're too quick to come in from the wilderness, to come up from the water. I wonder, if we stayed a little longer, would we see the Holy Spirit too? Would we see the heavens torn apart and be forever changed by it?

If we stay in the center, we're not likely to find out what God is doing out on the fringes.

It's not just about God becoming a person, giving up cosmic, transcendent power, and taking on the dustiness of human life. There's also an empowering by the Holy Spirit. Jesus doesn't just take on sin and suffering, he also receives the power of the Holy Spirit and uses it to breathe life back into the human condition. "Baptism matters because we are who God says we are. The identity declared at baptism, however, is only a word until it is revealed with convincing power in the unfolding story of our life and death - and resurrection.” We join Jesus’s baptism so that we can follow him in his death, and in his resurrection. We are who God says we are, and God says we belong to God. We do not belong to ourselves or our own self-centeredness, we belong to God, who sets us free to follow Christ to the fringes. We are no longer concerned about our own benefit, but about responding in faith and gratitude to God.

We do not fear judgment, because we know God is gracious freely. We do not fear death, because Christ has given us life. We know the benefits of living on the fringes: that’s where we experience God.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

A Word, Please from Joseph Taber on Vimeo.Jeremiah 31:7-14 (898)7For thus says the LORD: sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the church of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, “Save, O LORD, your people, the remnant of Israel.”8See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and father them from the farthest parts for he earth, among them the blind and the lame, those which child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.9With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

10Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it to the coastlands far away; say, “He who scattered Israel will father him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.”11For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.12They shall come and sig aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; theif life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again.13Then shall the young women rejoin in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.14I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the LORD.

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to God

John 1:1-18 (111)1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3all things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. what has come into being 4in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.

6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

10He came into the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and this own people did not accept him. 12But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God.

14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and cried out, “this was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

This is the Word of the LORDThanks be to God.A word, please. If you will, a moment of your time. We’ve come through Christmas and the passing of 2014. Now we're beginning the dreary early weeks of January. It's difficult to keep our energy up without the lights and excitement of the holidays. Our houses were full of family and celebrations, and now we're packing up the decorations and washing the sheets from the guest bedroom. Our household's evergreens are turning brown and it seems like we're vacuuming more needles than remain on the tree. We get to sing Christmas carols one last Sunday, but our minds have already moved on from Christmas. The paraments are white but the weather is gray.

When we're drifting in so much gray, it's easy to find ourselves disconnected from our absolutes. In the gray beginnings of the year, we lose the energy to search for the ways God is working in the world, and it's tempting to live as though the grayness in front of us is all there is. In the beginning of the New Year, we need a word, please. We need to remember the promise that there is more for us than just bouncing from distraction to diversion.

There was more for Ancient Judah, too, than the trauma and despair of Babylon. By the time we get to this section of Jeremiah, much of the nation has already been carried off into exile. In chapter 29, the prophet writes them a letter telling them that their captivity will not be short, and that they should build houses and plant gardens. This passage is part of another letter sent to give them hope that their captivity will end, but even this hope is kept at arms length, talking of the Northern Kingdom of Israel rather than the community of exiled Judeans. The hopeful word is too much for a fragile community that is suffering through the midst of collapse. Jeremiah's prophetic words give the people hope by promising it to some on else, knowing that the hope will be stronger if the people claim it for themselves when they are ready.

The author of John's gospel also came from an oppressed community. His people live in the hope of the gospel, yet it seems so tenuous in a world so gray and hopeless. Maybe instead of light and darkness there's just a gray area and we make what we can from it while we can?

John refuses to settle for gray, imagination-killing despair. Just as Jeremiah had refused to give up on his relationship with God, so John holds ferociously to the Gospel. In a gray world, the Gospel is what gives him the vision he needs to see that the light indeed shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn't extinguish the light. The Word of God, revealed in the Gospel, brings life into an otherwise gray existence. "The Gospel matters because the story of Jesus draws the reader into the story of God."

John begins his account of the good news of Jesus Christ with what is known as the Prologue to the Gospel of John. Even before anything happens, John makes a promise about what he is going to show us by the way he tells the Gospel story. It’s not just John’s promise to try and bring some color into the gray world of his community, John is showing us God’s promise to bring life into a world that had lost itself. A word. please? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It’s more than the historical, first century Jewish man named Jesus, it’s the story of humanity’s redemption at the hands of a loving God. "The Prologue is not concerned with the earthy origins of Jesus but with the heavenly existence of the Word in the beginning.” The Prologue promises that these words will point us to God.

A word, please, as we begin. A prologue before the good news, to show us where we should look in this gray world. “[The Word] was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him, nothing came into being. What came into being through him was life, and the life was the light of all people.” In the grayness, we forget sometimes that this dreariness is not eternal. It had a beginning, and it will come to an end. We have life in God, in God’s Word, in Christ Jesus. With John’s Gospel, and Jeremiah’s prophetic words, and the whole of the Biblical witness pointing to God, we can have hope that surpasses these passing storms and seasons. ”Just as God created the heavens and the earth and all life therein, so the [Word] brings life to creation.” Even in the dreary times at the beginning of January, when it’s difficult to see, there is still life. Even in the dimness and shadows, there is still light.

John promises us, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” This is where his Gospel will end, the rest of this narrative unfolds to show how the darkness did not overcome the light that is God’s Word-made-flesh. Whenever we feel stuck, emotionally or spiritually, we come back around to the promise John makes about the end of the gospel, which he puts in the Prologue before the story even begins.

Then a different John, a character in a story not his own, makes an entrance. It’s not the same John as wrote this gospel, but just as the author of this book was inspired by the author of all creation, so too “There was a man named John who was sent from God.” John has one job, to testify about the light, to point to the one who sent him. A Word, please, of testimony, on behalf of “the true light, which enlightens everyone”

The true light energizes us when we are stuck, but it’s not a peaceful, easy process. “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and this own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God.” We resist, because we don’t always recognize the light in the midst of the dreary grayness to which we have grown accustomed. But when we live in a way that is oriented to God, when we grasp the life that is the light for all people, we are using the grace and truth that God has given us through Jesus Christ, the Word-made flesh.

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” Another promise of liberation, an absolute claim on which we can hang this narrative. A word, please, about the truth which sets us free. ”From the contents of the prologue the reader knows Jesus's ultimate identity and knows that his mission will engender new life. But the reader also anticipates that darkness will attempt to overcome the light and that Jesus will be rejected by his own.” It’s not an easy process, and sometimes we may even long for the familiarity of the dreary world we had before Christ. But we are no longer stuck in the grayness, in the despair. We are liberated by the Word of God.

“From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.”